I would love to see this become a standard benefit in the tech industry. Given that many tech workers are young, and young tech workers usually have high salaries for their age (relative to other professions), 401k money is very, very valuable.
A 100% match from Microsoft would mean an annual 2015 contribution of $36,000 ($18,000 employee + $18,000 employer match) versus $27,000 maximum ($18,000 employee + $9,000 employer match) from Google. That's a $9000 difference.
EDIT: Looks like the article is incorrect. Correct numbers are 50%, as stated in parent comment.
https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2015/08/05/the-employee-exp...
"we’ll increase the company’s 401(k) match from 50 percent of the first 6 percent that employees defer, to 50 percent of all regular deferrals. With the current IRS regular deferral limit of $18,000, this means employees will have the opportunity for Microsoft to match their contributions up to $9,000 per year."
My best guess is that they meant to say they now match 100%, but we won't know for sure until they correct the press release.
Source: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/retirement/employer-match-co... (Technically, with employer match, it can go up to $53k)
"Retirement readiness is an important part of overall financial wellness, so beginning Jan. 1, 2016, we’ll increase the company’s 401(k) match from 50 percent of the first 6 percent that employees defer, to 50 percent of all regular deferrals."
Under the old scheme, you had to contribute at least 6% of your pre-tax salary to get the maximum match, which was 50% of whatever that value was. In other words, the maximum match was 3% of your salary, and you had to be contributing at least 6% of your salary to get that. Now, anything you contribute gets matched at 50%, regardless of what your salary is.
Pretend I made $100k, contributed $6k -- they matched an additional $3k into the account.
The match was considerably more than $540 @ $18k.
Source: I work there.